Home Alone
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Of all the milestones in an eleven year old's life, the first time you get to stay home alone is a pretty important one. Until your friends all show up and...kinda defeat the purpose... - One-shot, set in the Remember Me universe.
The whole thing started when his mother went out on a job. She claimed that it wouldn't take long, but not soon after she left, there was a huge malfunction with the train system in Magnolia and the surrounding areas, leaving her stranded with Team Shadow gear for, at best, three days.

Which wouldn't be that big of a deal. Locke was staying with Master Laxus in his mother's absence as his father was off training. If he wore out his welcome at the Dreyar household (given the temperament of the oldest daughter in that house, it was very likely), he could always just go stay with Lucy and Natsu. Their daughter was much kinder and not nearly as much of a butthead.

Then, of course, there was Erza, who was currently housing a boy about Locke's age and, though they were mortal enemies, if push came to shove, well…

None of that came to pass as it was however as, during that three day lapse, Locke's father, Gajeel, returned from training with Pantherlily, meaning that he got to go back home.

Not that being there was all that great. For the first hour, at least. Mainly because his father, as he typically did, took to ribbing the boy rather harshly over a variety of things.

"Eleven years old and you can't even stay home by yourself? You're such a little brat, you know that?"

But mainly that one. Locke was never sure what to say to that as he frequently told his mother that he was more than capable of fending for himself for days at a time, but she was stark against it. Especially considering he had some many friends that he could stay with anyways.

What was the big deal?

Black Steel. The same big deal that had been tormenting/mentoring him off and on for years. It was a slippery slop and, typically, Gajeel slid right down the wrong side. Much was the same that day, as he hammered it home to Locke time after time about how much more mature and of a man he had been when he was the boy's age and how he could never grow up the way that Gajeel did. No way could he handle being raised by a dragon.

He would have been eaten alive!

Lily, who usually was more than pleased with Gajeel's grumbles and self-boasting, was clearly not amused with the man bothering Locke (he never was), but Gajeel just wasn't in a good mood, it seemed. He wouldn't let up. And, finally, as they ate dinner up at the hall that night and Gajeel went on and on about how much tougher he was than Locke had been when he was eleven, the boy finally let him have it.

"Then just go then!" He was yelling at him too, which was odd for the two of them, as Locke usually suffered in silence, but the man was really getting under his skin that night. "Go on a stupid job and I'll stay all by myself! Is that what you want?"

Uh, no. Gajeel wanted to boast about himself and make his son revel in his greatness. Without the added disrespectful snapping.

Dropping the chicken leg he had been yapping around, Gajeel glared heavily across the table at his son who, honestly, was kinda wishing he hadn't just said that. Fearing the worst, he was shocked when all he got was a hard knock to the top of your head.

"Wanna play tough, boy?" Gajeel shoved up too as Pantherlily, who had been over at another table, speaking with Erza, came flying over at the sound of Locke's harsh tone. "Huh?"

Anger was a fleeting thing in the boy, unlike his father, and he only got out, "I..."

"Figure shit out on your own then." And then Gajeel knocked him in the head again, hard enough to no doubt bruise. "Little shit." Then, to Pantherlily, he growled out, "Come on, cat! We're takin' a job."

Locke was still just sitting there too, trying to process what had happened, when suddenly, someone else was talking to him.

"Wow! I think Mr. Gajeel's even scarier when he isn't yelling."

It was Kai, of course, one of the boys that Erza cared for, standing there with a cup of juice in one hand. His brother Ravan was with him as well as Marin, one of the Dreyar girls. She was staring at Locke in shock, but Ravan only sneered.

"Awe," he mocked as the other boy just glared at him. "Did you and your daddy have a fight?"

"Shut up," he hissed as Kai only giggled softly and Marin continued to look amazed.

"You can come spend the night with us again, Locke," the girl offered. "If you wanna."

For a moment, he thought about telling her that sounded good, but then he realized that it would be exactly what Gajeel expected of him. And, even if his old man was a jerk, he was a bit right. He was more than old enough to stay home alone.

So he would.

"No," he told her as he jumped up, reaching into his pocket at the same time. Gajeel had stuck him with the bill, as it were. Nice. Pulling out his wallet that, honestly, held few jewels, he counted them out before tossing them up on the table for Marin's mom to pick up when she came to clear it. "I have to do this."

"Don't sound so cavalier," Ravan continued to rib. "I mean, what? You really think it's that big of a deal or something? You big baby."

"I said to shut up!" Locke glared over at him. "Why are you even talking to me? Don't you have something better to do than be a jerk?"

"Who are you calling a jerk, you stupid-"

"Is your dad gonna finish his food?" Kai was getting right down to business, it seemed, as he went to claim Black Steel's seat. "Because it'd be awful to just let it go to waste."

"Gross," Marin whispered, but it was through a giggle as she finally grinned, watching Kai rub his hands together in excitement. Erza had already bought him a dinner, but two dinners sounded heavenly. He was just getting ready to pick up the discarded drumstick too when, suddenly, the back of his collar was snatched and he was being lifted into the air.

"Kai," he heard the voice of, of course, only his favorite person ever. "What have we said about eating scraps left by others?"

Grinning sheepishly up at Erza as she dangled him in the air, the boy said simply, "That that's for swine."

"Which would make sense," Ravan quipped as the other children only stared. "Considering who we're talking about."

Erza only ignored him as she said to his brother, "Not to mention you've already adequately been fed. Have you not?"

Kai patted at his tummy. "I guess so. But I could still-"

"Do you wish to run more laps?"

He kicked his feet in the air. "Nope! Set me down, huh? And I'll go do somethin' else. Whatever you want. Just not laps."

Far more gently than she would have been with another, she set the boy on the ground before announcing, "We are leaving, as it is. Or at least I am. And considering you still have not figured out how to get home on your own-"

"It's not as easy as it seems." He moved to retrieve his cup from the table and finish off his juice before adding, "I'm just not location inclined, you know."

Erza blinked. Then she sighed and turned to walk off. "Make goodbyes with your friends. We leave in ten minutes."

After the swordswoman was gone, Ravan only went back to sneering at Locke.

"Guess we should leave you to it then, huh?" he said as Locke only glared right back. "Your big night alone? Huh? Should I call your little girlfriend to come stay with you too? And protect you from the monsters?"

And that was enough, it seemed, to set Locke off as the two took to brawling not soon after. Marin, not much one for that, only followed Kai as he ditched his brother (he fought the other children all the time; surely Ravan didn't expect him to root for him _every single time_ ) and went to find Marin's mother to ask for one more juice.

"You know," he said as Mirajane giggled from behind the bar, as she always thought the boy was rather cute in his ways, "for the road."

Kai liked Mirajane a lot too. She had to be, like, one of the nicest people ever. She was always giving him free drinks and food (which, around Erza, he pretended that he paid for because she thought that nothing in life should ever be free because she had morals or something silly like that) and forcing Master Laxus to let him spend the night with Marin over at their house. Which, considering he and Ravan (though the elder boy had never stated as much) were pretty much Marin's big brothers, shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but for some reason, Laxus thought that he was 'dangerous' and 'weird' and 'totally ruining his backyard by continually digging holes in it for fun'.

Not that Kai denied any of those accusations. He just didn't understand what they had to do with not being a good big brother.

With his juice in hand once more, Kai patted Marin gently on the head and told her that he'd see her tomorrow; she had to come over and help him water the garden he was growing over at Erza's, after all. And then he went to meet with the swordswoman at the front of the hall, where she'd somehow wrangled Ravan away from Locke, and was awaiting him so that they could leave.

The two of them being gone kinda left Marin at a loss and she only headed back over to where Locke was to see if there was anything he wanted to do together. She and the older boy were infrequently alone together and, honestly, were more friends out of necessity than anything else. He was her sister's friend, really, and he more or less just saw her as Haven's baby sister.

"Where's your sister?" he asked as he straightened himself, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand while he was at it, as if checking for blood. He hated Ravan, with a passion, but the other boy was a relatively equal adversary. "Marin?"

"She's not here," she said with a slight shrug. "Why? Did you decide you wanna spend the night?"

"No." He let out a slight breath. "I just… No."

Cocking her head to the side, Marin asked, "Are you okay, Locke?"

His head hurt, actually, from when his father had struck him and he'd sorta bitten his cheek when he and Ravan were fighting, so that wasn't feeling so great, but compared to some of the fights he and Haven got in (nearly daily), he was actually pretty perfect.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Then he smiled at her because, out of all of Haven's friends, he was always the nicest to Marin. "I'mma go home, okay? I'll see you later."

"Bye!" Marin even waved at him as he headed out. And, to placate her, he did the same thing back.

Then he set out.

The sun had begun to set while he'd been in the hall, but it wasn't dark just yet. Honestly, he didn't know what he was going to do at home all by himself other than sleep. He could train and read some of the endless books his mother had littering the place, but neither of those sounded like any fun.

If maturity was staying all alone in a house with only yourself as entertainment, then Locke was thinking of returning it back to his father; he wasn't ready to be mature just yet.

Locke had taken to walking around the town, killing time until he had to go home, when he ran into Navi. She was with some other kids, ones that he didn't know, really, as they weren't associated with Fairy Tail, but at the sight of him all alone, she left whatever game they were playing on the other side of the street and rushed right over.

"Where's Haven?" was the first thing she asked him to which he only frowned and kept walking.

"How should I know?" he grumbled. Then, not wanting to come off as rude, he added, "I figured she'd be with you. She wasn't at the guildhall."

"Oh." Navi, for some reason, fell into step with him, abandoning her other friends for Locke. He chose not to question it, as it at least gave him some company. "Well, where are you going?"

"Nowhere." Then he frowned. "Or home, I guess, really. I'm gonna, you know, stay home alone."

The pink haired girl only glanced at him. "Oh. Okay."

Annoyed by her response, he added, "All night. By myself."

Considering her father was the Salamander, who had a tendency to be rather spacey and had, on more than one occasion, left her alone at the house when Lucy was out on a job with Erza, this really had little value to Navi.

She glanced at the other child and, taking in his tone, only asked, "Did you want someone to spend the night with you?"

"No." That was his first reaction. Then he thought some. "I mean, I wouldn't care if someone did. It's not, like, important to me or anything to-"

"Well, my dad and Happy and I kinda had something to do anyways," she told him slowly.

"What?"

"He bought, like, a ton of popcorn and we were just gonna eat it all."

Locke frowned. That was better than keeping him company? Really?

Kicking at the ground, he said simply, "That sounds like fun, I guess."

"You could come over and do it too if you-"

"No." He even shook his head a bit, his coarse black hair flying around. "I think I'mma just gonna go home and...and read."

"Really?" Navi frowned, but only shrugged. They'd reached the end of the street and, as Locke turned to head down another one, she only stopped, no doubt wanting to get back to her other friends. "Well, okay. Bye, Locke."

He called out something similar before, with a sigh, decided to confront his fate of sheer boredom.

Perfect punishment, he figured, for talking back to Black Steel Gajeel.

Things were pretty much normal when he first got to the house. He laid around for a bit, on the couch, and honestly did try to read a book. Really, he did. His mother was always hounding him about that sorta thing and, well, with absolutely nothing to do, it sounded like as good a time as any to get down to it.

Only, every single book he picked up bored him to tears, which was saying a lot, considering his other option was to sit around and do nothing. And he did that too, for awhile, as well as made a snack and even attempted some training (bleh).

Dusk was just leaving and welcoming on the darker shades of the night when it happened.

He'd already stripped down to his boxers (a big no go with his mother, walking around the house like that, so it was the perfect opportunity) and was hanging upside down from the couch, making shadow puppets with a flashlight, when, from the depths of his mind, he began to think about what it meant. Being alone.

Of course, the basic concept of him being by himself, but also that he had to be completely self-reliant. Like...say...if the house caught on fire for whatever reason, it was his job to get himself out and not die. Or try and put it out. Or get someone else to do that.

And if the toilet suddenly backed up, he had to fix it all on his own. Not just let it, like, flood the whole house. That was a big one.

Then, inevitably, the biggest concern of all hit him.

If someone came to the house, it was his job to deal with them. Be it one of his parents friends, who he'd have to kindly explain weren't home, or someone else, it'd be his job to speak to them.

Someone else…

Like who? Hanging upside down, his mind went to the one place that he really wished it wouldn't have.

Like a murderer. Or a robber. Or some kind of demonic monster that feasted on the souls of weak mages who couldn't even beat loudmouth, amateur swordsmen.

He tumbled off the couch with a frown when his flashlight suddenly shut off. The battery, of course, had just picked the most inconvenient time to die.

Or at least that's what he told himself.

Not that it mattered, of course, because the lights worked. In the house. He had electricity. He just hadn't had one turned on. That was all. So...yeah. He was fine. Perfectly fine. Nothing was-

And there it was. Just as he should have expected. A knock at the door.

Worst of all, it came from the back one.

What kinda caller would ever knock at the _back door_? Like, other than a serial murderer who ate his victims alive?

Seriously, Locke had heard stories of such killers from...his father...who typically lied to him in attempts to scare him… But there still might be one! If there were talking cats, why couldn't there be cannibal serial killers?

Not that, like, Locke was trying to prove the existence or something, because he wasn't. He just-

"Locke, open the door! Hurry up. Are you even home? You better be home after I walked all the way over here-"

"Haven," he whispered before rushing to go open the door for her. She arrived at the back door sometimes, typically when she was heading from her own home, as cutting through his backyard was faster.

His joy of finding out it wasn't a murderer at his back door promptly ended as he found the scowling Haven on the other side.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as she just shoved her way into the house. "Haven?"

"Marin said that you're staying home all by yourself."

"Yeah and?"

"And," she kept up as she walked right over to his sink to get a glass of water, "I'd rather be over here, completely alone, than stuck with stupid Laxus."

" _I_ ," he told her with a frown, "was going to be alone. Now that you're here, that completely ruins that. You do get the concept of being all alone, don't you?"

"If you're going to be as annoying as stupid Laxus, then I'll leave," she warned, glaring over at him in the dark. As if that were a threat or something.

Still, Locke only shut the back door before grumbling out something under his breath about how annoying she was and shouldn't have just assumed that he wanted her over there in the first place. Haven pretended not to notice though and, after a sip from the cup, spoke herself.

"Why's it so dark in here?" she complained. "Locke?"

"Because I want it to be dark. What difference does it make?"

Heading off, Haven went into the living room. "Why are you home alone? I thought that your dad just got home."

"He did." Locke followed her as, even in his own home, Haven somehow managed to order him around, silently or vocally. "But he was being a big jerk about me staying over at your house, so I told him I could stay home alone if I wanted to. Then he left and now I am. Or was, I guess, before you showed up."

"Don't say it like you're not excited," Haven chided, though she herself didn't sound so. "You were gonna get stuck spending all night, all alone, being bored. Now I'm here."

"I just spent, like, forever with you," he said. "And had a horrible time. So-"

"You're just as stupid as Laxus." And the blonde had been moving to sit down at the couch, but stopped to glare at him then. "This is why I hate both of you. You're constantly-"

"What," Locke complained, "did your father do? Since you keep bring it up and clearly want to tell me-"

"I do not."

"Just tell me."

Finally taking that seat on the couch, she stared at him in the darkness as she said, "He accused me of being mean to Marin."

Locke blinked. Then he frowned. Then he said, "And?"

"And? I'm not mean to Marin. At all. I-"

"You're mean to everyone!"

"Am not," she said with a bit of decisiveness. "Everyone else is just always bothering me."

"Oh, right, sure, that's it."

"It is."

"You're horribly mean, Haven," he said as he made sure not to sit with her. No way did he want her attacking him or shooting lightning at him. She had the inclination to do both. "Constantly. Especially to your sister. You-"

"I gave her my lacrima," the young child growled. "I wanted a dragon lacrima, finally had one, and then I gave it up to Marin so that she could get better."

"And?"

"Why do you keep saying that? And? And? And? And I'm not mean, idiot, so-"

"Doing one good, kind, decent thing once in your life, like, over a year ago doesn't forever absolve any of the horrible things you do, Haven." It wasn't the first time, after all, that he'd told her this. "Being a good person doesn't mean you don't do bad things; it means you do good things. And being a bad person means, obviously, that you do bad things."

"I do a fair mixture."

Not honestly feeling like arguing with her (or getting into a brawl), he only slowly came to sit down on the couch.

"Yeah, whatever."

And then they were just both sitting there, silently, in the dark, and Locke kinda forgot that he was supposed to be on edge about serial killers that may or may not feast on their victims.

"What were you going to do do all night?" Haven asked finally.

"Train and sleep."

"You're home all alone in this big house and you were going to sleep?"

"And train."

Letting out a long sigh, Haven said, "You weren't even going to, like, go through your parents stuff or anything?"

Locke frowned. "Why would I ever do that?"

"I don't know. It's what I'd do." Then she thought some more. "Either that or set up boobytraps around the house that Laxus would hurt himself on."

"But you're a good person, right?"

That one got him a slug, finally, to the arm, before Haven jumped up. "You're so boring, Locke. You- Hey!"

He only got to his feet as well before hitting her in the arm as well. "You started it, you-"

And then Haven attacked him and well, they tussled for a bit and Haven shocked him a lot, with her lightning magic, and, needless to say, it was some time before they were both sitting away from one another, on the ground, sulking in their own disappointment. Neither had yet claimed victory and, if either did, it would no doubt spark a new battle, so perhaps it was good that they both remained silent.

"Don't spit blood on the carpet," he complained when Haven did so, no doubt having a cut in her mouth. "You'll get me in trouble! It might stain."

"Say your dad did it." Pushing up then, she headed back into the kitchen. "Or get in trouble. I really don't care. Idiot."

"You're an idiot."

"You're a bigger idiot."

Getting up as well, he followed after her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm leaving. Have fun here all alone, you big idiot."

"Good! I don't want you here!"

"Good! Because I don't want to be here!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

"Great!"

"Even bett- Ah!"

And Haven fell back too, when upon throwing open the back door, she found herself face to face with another child.

"Hi." It was Navi, of course, the pink haired child holding up a baggie of something. "I brought popcorn."

Locke only stood over Haven, who's heart was beating far faster than it ever had, as he said, "You guys do realize I have a front door, right?"

Taking in a ragged breath, Haven asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Well," she said as Locke reached down to help Haven up, though it only got him shoved away from her. "I told my dad, Locke, about how you were really scared to be all alone-"

"I was not! I never said that! Why would you-"

"So he said I could take some popcorn and stay over here with you."

Haven got to her feet all on her own before saying, "What good would the two of you do if something did happen? You're both completely useless."

"Coming from the one that screamed in the face of terror," Locke remarked as he took the popcorn from Navi, "I think I'd just let this moment pass without much comment if I were you, Haven."

"Shut up. Idiot."

"I'm not an-"

"What are you doing here, Haven?" Navi asked as she came into the dark kitchen as well, shutting the door behind her. "Did Locke ask you to stay with him too? So he's not alone?"

"I don't," Locke complained, "care about being alone! I-"

"No," Haven said as she only went to snatch the popcorn from the boy. "I hate stupid Laxus and I wanted to get away from him."

Navi considered this before nodding. Sounded like Haven.

"But to get out of the house," the blonde went on, "I had to tell him I was going to your house. Which, oh, look, you're not at anymore! Which means, if your mom mentions you aren't there to my mom, they'll know I didn't go to. So-"

"That's your fault," Locke told her with a frown. "Not Navi's. And aren't you leaving anyways? Just go back home and- Hey, you can't eat all the popcorn!"

"I'm not." Then Haven frowned. "I mean, I definitely could, so don't ever try to tell me what I can or can't do-"

"So what were you guys doing?" Navi asked as Haven went back into the living room with the popcorn, apparently staying. "Locke?"

"Nothing." He headed after Haven. "It's been extremely boring."

"You've been extremely boring," Haven remarked as, still in the dark, the three of them went to sit on the couch, Navi between the two of them, where she belonged. "Just like always."

"You're so annoying," Locke complained, glaring over Navi's head at Haven. "You know that? I'm nice enough to let you stay at my house, Navi brings you popcorn, and you're still-"

"Actually, I sorta brought that for me and you," Navi pointed out. When Haven frowned down at her, she said, "But I kinda already ate enough and you don't really like popcorn, right, Locke? So-"

"Are we just going to sit here all night?" Haven was already it bored, it seemed, with the conversation at hand. "Locke?"

"Well, gee, considering I didn't invite anyone over and I was planning on doing nothing, yeah, maybe we are. And?"

"Stop saying-"

"And, and, and, and!"

Navi blinked. Then she bowed her head a bit and scratched at her cheek. "Uh, maybe you guys should, you know, stop spending so much time around one another. If all you're going to do is fight-"

"I'm not fighting." Locke head his head higher. "At all."

"Neither," Haven growled as she munched angrily on her popcorn, "am I."

"Well… Tomorrow I'm going with my dad and Happy on a job," Navi offered up, as if to break the tension a bit.

"That's great, Navi," Locke grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest, relaxing into the couch. "Really great."

"Better than great," Haven interjected. "It's awesome."

"You don't," Locke complained, "have to beat me at everything, you know."

"What are you talking about? I was just-"

"You know what I'm talking about. You-"

"I could go home and argue with Laxus and still have a better time than-"

"Then go! He has to argue with you, 'cause he's your dad, but I don't. So go."

Still, Haven didn't get up. "You're an idiot, Locke."

"You're an idiot."

"You're a bigger-"

"What was that?" Navi, who had been slouching over, annoyed that she'd left the great time she was having with Natsu and Happy back at the house to come listen to Haven and Locke fight (seriously, there were times when the three of them could just be happy and friendly and, sometimes even Haven and Locke seemed to get along; just not recently). "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what? Locke's whining?"

"I'm not whin-"

"Whiner."

"I am not!"

"Whining about being a whiner." Haven scoffed. "You big baby."

"I'm not the one that's still afraid of getting in trouble," he pointed out. "Unlike you. So-"

"Oh, so I can just tell your mom when she gets back that we were all over here, all alone, the whole night? Can I, Locke? Can I? Huh?"

He only growled. "You're so annoying, Haven. You're always-"

"I'm serious." Navi was getting to her feet then. "Do you not hear that?"

"What is it, Navi?" Locke sighed as Haven only rolled her eyes. "I don't hear anything."

"I swear I just heard someone, like, right outside the front door talking or-"

"It's probably the wind," Haven told her simply. "So-"

"The wind has a voice now?"

"Navi-"

The only thing that could stop Haven from berating the other girl occurred then. A loud banging on the window out on the front porch as well as the rattling of the back door knob. Had he not been scared shit-less, Locke might have contemplated the fact that the door had gotten more use that night than it had in a long time.

Navi was freaking out then, as she did in most situations, and Haven was just kinda sitting there, seemingly shocked, while Locke jumped to his feet. He was the man, after all, and fine, sometimes he let Haven take control, but ultimately, he was the oldest; it was his job to protect them.

Plus they were girls. That in itself meant he had to step up to the plate. Be mature.

It was his home to protect, after all.

Even from serial murderers.

And _especially_ from cannibals.

"Hey!" he growled in the loudest, most Gajeel like voice he could pull off. "I don't care who you are, but knock it off! Now! This isn't funny! I… My dad's Black Steel Gajeel and he could eat people too if he wanted!"

"What are you even talking about?" Navi complained as she rushed to go hide behind the couch. "Locke! Do something!"

"Me?" He frowned over at them. "I… You guys are mages too! You- Oh no."

The sound of the back door opening caused Navi to yell, "Why didn't we lock the door?"

Locke was readying himself too, for whatever onslaught was coming. Haven, on the other hand, only got to her feet before, in the darkness of the light-less house, a single bolt illuminated it all, from Navi poking her head in amazement from behind the couch to Locke's look of terror as, with Haven's lighting strike, he could see exactly who her bolt was about to hit as he popped into the living room, laughing loudly.

Or he was, before he was hit with such a strong current of electricity that he couldn't even get out a scream. Just fell right onto the floor.

"Hey!" Having heard the crack of what sounded like thunder inside the house, suddenly the kid on the front porch stopped tapping at the window. "What the fuck did you do?"

And there was only one kid that they knew who would ever use that word without fear of retribution, adults or no adults.

"Ravan?" Haven was in shock as she stared over at the window while Navi only rushed to go check on the fallen child across the room. Locke, for his part, just went to flip on a light. "Then…"

It was dawning on her then, in the light, just who she'd struck with her lightning. Kai, of course, the little boy laid out on the ground looking rather lifeless at the moment.

"I think you just killed Kai," Navi breathed as the front door (also unlocked; Locke was new to the whole home alone late at night thing) was thrown open to reveal Ravan. "He-"

"I'm not dead," came the gasping sound from the floor as Kai peeked a his eyes open. "But please don't ever do that again."

Locke had to admit, for as horrible as the night had been up to that point, the look of pure terror on Ravan's face, over the thought that his brother had been killed, and Haven's, from fear that it was at her hands, more or less made up for everything.

"What the hell were you guys doing?" After finding out that Kai was alright (if not extremely shaken up and still unable to move), Locke wanted to get to that. "Huh? Ravan? What-"

At the sound of someone else speaking to him, the other boy's face lost some of its tension, remembering the true reason for his arrival.

Forcing himself back into the character he tried so hard to preserve, Ravan got out a slight sneer as he looked to Locke and said, "You should have seen the look on your face, loser. You were so scared that-"

"That someone we didn't know was banging on the back and front of the house?" Navi was done caring for poor Kai then when she remembered just why Haven had shocked him. "Yeah! We were scared. That wasn't funny. You-"

"I wasn't scared." Haven needed to get that out there. "At all."

"Yeah," Locke grumbled. "You just almost killed your little sister's best friend. Round of applause."

"It would have been a just killing." Haven had dropped her popcorn, back over at the couch, and went to retrieve the bag. "Laxus would think so, at least."

"You know, for someone that hates him," Locke continued to complain, "you sure do mention-"

"Stop trying to change the subject," Ravan accused, standing there with this smug look on his face, as if he'd proven something. "I scared you, Red _pox_. Admit iit. I-"

"My name," Locke growled as he stalked right over to the other guy. Now that he knew it was just Ravan and not a serial killer, he was pretty confident, "is Redfox you-"

"Leave Locke alone." Haven wouldn't glance at either of them, instead taking her popcorn over to Kai, to stare down at him. "Ravan. No one thinks your funny. Or even likes you."

"I like 'im," Kai whispered as he slowly tried to sit up, though it only produced winces from the boy. "A lot."

"Fine.' Haven gave the little boy the rest of her popcorn, the closest thing to an apology that she was ever going to be willing to hand out. "Kai likes you. Which isn't saying a lot. At all. So-"

"You always have to protect him, don't you?" And Ravan was done with Locke, because bothering him was only so much fun. With Haven around to torment however, he kinda became a worthless endeavor. "Why are you always in his business, Haven? Huh? Can he not fight his own battles? He needs his little girlfriend to-"

"Can we focus on the fact that we almost killed Kai?" Navi was still on the ground with the boy who, still unable to sit up completely, did manage to gobble up some popcorn kernels. "Or that he and Ravan are both jerks for doing that? Or even that I'm really tired of you guys always fighting? And that I really want to go home now?"

Narrowing her eyes at Ravan, Haven only said, "I'm not going to kick your butt in Locke's house. His mother don't like blood on the carpets. So you can either leave or I can make you leave."

Locke only frowned. "You really do pay attention when I talk then?"

"You're such a girl, Locke." Haven was done with all of them, honestly, then, and only said to Ravan, "And besides, if I kicked your butt too badly, then you go home and tell Erza and she'd tell Laxus and he'd know I was here. So-"

"How did you guys even get out of the house?" Navi asked as she got to her feet only when Kai, finally, managed to scramble up to his own. "Ravan? It's really late. Didn't Erza-"

"I can do whatever I want," he told her with a glare. "So I just left. I'm not like you little babies that need your mommies and daddies' permissions to go out. I-"

"That's not true, Ravan," Kai complained, frowning over at him. "I told Erza I's gonna go spend the night with Marin and Ravan told her he was gonna go train all night by himself in the woods and then she did that thing where she got really happy, but didn't want to show it, and smiled real big and-"

"You've sure made a quick recovery," Locke grumbled as, figuring no one was going anywhere for awhile, he went to shut and lock the front door. "Kai."

"The popcorn really helped," he admitted before grinning over at his best friend's older sister. "Thanks, Haven."

"Don't," she grumbled as she crossed her arms and looked off, "mention it."

And she truly meant that.

"What are you doing here with the girls anyways?" Ravan asked as Locke passed him, coming back from locking the door. "You nee them to protect you now?"

"And what are you doing stalking around my house?" Locke retorted. "I could have killed you."

"Hardly."

"Haven almost killed me," Kai offered. "Then she gave me popco- Hey!"

That time, when the girl shot at him, the boy was able to jump out of the way.

"I said," Haven complained, glaring over at him, "not to mention that."

"No more shooting off magic in my house," Locke told them all though, up to that point, Haven had been the only one to do so. "You're gonna break something. Or...scorch something, Haven, so-"

"Don't get on to me," she complained. "Get onto them. They're the ones that are making me continually shoot at them. They shouldn't even be here. You're such a creep, Ravan. You've been here for, like, over a year. Haven't you made any real friends yet?"

Oh, he had. They just happened to be them.

"Is Marin here?" Kai was most concerned with that. He liked the older kids enough, they could do some really funny (in his mind) things sometimes, but ultimately, Marin was the one he was closest to. "Haven? Or-"

"No." She even rolled her eyes at the suggestion. "She's not." To Ravan, she added, "Some of us don't need our little siblings to tag along so we're not afraid in the dark."

"Screw you, Haven. Marin just didn't want to come with you because she hates you."

That would have gotten Ravan shot at, finally, which would have no doubt resulted in an all out war between them and Locke too, probably, when they forced him to get involved and then Kai and Navi would sorta just sit there and watch in shock and awe.

Or at least Kai would.

Instead, the boy in question spoke to Haven, distracting her momentarily.

"If you're here," he reasoned, "and Marin's back at home, that means that she's all alone and don't have no one to play with, right? So that means that you're not gonna be using your bed and that there's a free one, so-"

"You can't sleep in my bed, idiot," Haven complained, frowning over at him. "I mean it. You… Wait, does Marin let you sleep in my bed?"

"Are you going to shock me if I say yes?"

"You stupid little-"

"Leave him alone." Ravan, apparently, didn't want to have to drag a fried Kai back to Erza's house. "He didn't do anything to you."

Holding his head up high, Kai said, "Yeah. I was just asking questions. You don't have to be rude."

"Only I can talk to him that way," Ravan added to which Kai was quick to nod his head.

"Yeah, Haven. So- Ah!"

"Stop shooting damn bolts at him, Haven!" And Locke was going to pull her away while Kai just went to hide behind his brother.

To Ravan, Kai asked, "Can I go spend the night with Marin?"

"Can you get there on your own?"

"...Can someone go walk me over to Marin's house? It's pretty urgent."

"Have your stupid brother take you," Haven growled as Locke only made her go sit down on the couch, though she continued to glare over at Ravan, who was doing the same back to her. "Since he's _leaving_."

"You were leaving too," Locke reminded, though he wasn't sure why. He honestly wanted Ravan gone. Badly. Maybe Haven too though.

Navi was fine. And Kai, when he wasn't doing that annoying little boy thing where he kept making fart jokes.

Which, depending on the setting, were still funny to Locke too. He was, after all, still a little boy as well. Just not at the moment, as he was defending his house from unseen forces. He was a man, in that moment and, therefore, had no need for toilet humor.

"Not with him," Haven complained because she knew, if the two left at the same time, Ravan would definitely follow and bother her. Especially if she was taking Kai to go see Marin. Then the two would no doubt get into a fight.

Which wouldn't be so bad...if she wasn't still trying to hide from Laxus where she really was. Wrestling with Locke was one thing; he hit like a little girl. Ravan, however, was constantly trying to flay her with his swords and, well, if she came home all cut up, victorious or not, Laxus would know something was up.

Ugh. Laxus.

"I don't want to walk home with you anyways," Ravan retorted. "You stupid-"

"He can't go see Marin anyways," Navi pointed out as, slowly, she came to join Haven on the couch. "If he did, he'd no doubt tell everyone that you're here, Haven. Or that you were here, if you left."

Kai, still cowering behind Ravan, nodded his head. "Yeah. I'd definitely do that."

Haven and Ravan only continued to glower at one another and, slowly, Locke relaxed.

"You guys can all stay," he finally told the ensemble. "But you have to get out of here before my dad shows up. Or my mother, if she does first. And no breaking anything; I'm probably already in trouble for talking back earlier."

Oh, he definitely was in trouble for that. Without a doubt.

Slowly, Kai came out from behind his brother before asking, "Is there anything else to eat?"

"No," Haven snapped at him. Navi glanced at her.

"Really?"

"Well, I don't know. It's not my house. I just wanted him to shut up and stop whining."

Locke was heading off then, back to his bedroom, calling over his shoulder for Kai to come help him. That served as a good distraction as, when the two returned, Kai forgot all about hunger and Marin and was excited about all the pillows and blankets they were both carrying.

"Are we gonna build a fort?" he asked with a bounce as he and Locke both dropped what was in their arms in the middle of the living room floor. "Huh? Can we? Are we?"

"No," the older boy said as he looked around at the other children. "It's so we have something to sleep on. Since you're all here, we can't stay in my bedroom. Since it's my house, I get the-"

"I have the couch." Haven even shoved Navi off, though she was more or less getting up anyways, to rush and grab the best pillow and blanket from the pile. "I'm the guest."

"We're all guests, nimrod," Ravan complained, still glaring at her.

"No," she said as she mostly stared at Locke, as if challenging him to try and challenge her. Their friendship was rather odd, to say the least. "I'm a guest. Because I was actually invited in. The rest of you just barged your way in here-"

"I didn't invite you in!" Locke was having none of that, it seemed. "You just came in! And then you refused to leave! You-"

"I get the couch." She said it as a statement too, not a question, even stretching out on it. "So get over it. Go sleep in your room in your own bed if it's that big of a deal to you. You big baby."

"I'm not a baby."

"Are too. Idiot."

"You're an idiot."

"You're a bigger idiot."

"You're-"

"I want the chair." Navi rushed with her blanket and pillow to go claim that, which sat on the other side of the room, far away from the front door. Perfect. It was nice and fluffy and kept her from being the first victim of whatever might attack them that night. "Okay, Locke?"

"That's fine, but Haven-"

"Go to your room," she almost ordered him. "If you're just going to whine-"

"I'm not leaving you guys out here alone." And the reasoning was far less valiant, as he said, "One of you might take something or break something or, what was it you wanted to do before? Go through my parents stuff? And set boobytraps?"

"I said you should do that," Haven corrected. "It's for your own good. I mean, what if they're like lying to you or something? And you're secretly adopted?"

"That would explain so much," Kai whispered as he stared over at Locke. The boy only growled.

"No, it wouldn't! I look just like my father! What would it explain?"

"I dunno." Kai settled on taking all the leftover pillows and blankets before trying to start on a fort with them and the surrounding coffee table and bookcase (it wasn't going so well). "I just felt like that's what people say in those moments."

"You can't have all those," was all Ravan said as he came to snatch a blanket and pillow from Kai before marching over to the couch. Haven, in her clear delirium (it was the only explanation), held out her hands, as if victorious and believing he was bring them to her. Snorting, Ravan only moved to take up residence on the other end of the couch.

"What are you doing?" Haven kicked at him. "Get down! I-"

"This is my couch." He kicked right back. "I have the pillow and the blanket. That means it's mine."

"Yeah, right. It's Locke's couch and he said I could have it!"

"I never said that." Locke only frowned. "Literally at all. How do you pick and choose what it is that you hear? Huh?"

"Who would you rather have it then?" she retorted. "Me or Ravan?"

"Me! I choose me!"

"See?" Haven glared across the couch at Ravan. "He chose me."

"That's not-"

"I don't care what Chickenpox has to say." Ravan kept kicking at Haven. "So just get down, Haven."

"No way."

" _Now_."

" _No._ "

"Can't you both share the couch?" Navi asked. When it got her only glares in return, she sheepishly grinned before saying, "I just mean… It's easier than fighting, right?" And Locke can sleep on the floor."

"Why would I sleep on the floor?" the boy complained.

"Well, you are the host." Navi smiled at him. "It'd only be right."

"I'll sleep in my fort!" Kai announced from where he was still, in vain, attempting to put together that dang fort. "And anyone who wants to can share!" After a moment passed in which no one moved to do so, he only sighed to himself before mumbling, "I wish Marin was here."

Things kinda settled down from there. Locke turned out the light and, giving into his fate, stretched out on the floor. Ravan and Haven were still kicking at one another though and, finally annoyed with that, Locke threw a pillow and blanket at Haven and told them both to just go to bed.

Not that it helped. Ravan and Haven grumbled and complained for a good twenty minute until, finally, all of the kids settled down a bit and, slowly, all started to drift off.

You know, until, suddenly, in the dead of night, Haven's eyes sprang open as she sensed something. Intense magical power. And it was right outside the house.

For a moment, she only held her breath, lying there in the darkness, willing one of the other children awake. But none seemed to be. Locke was even snoring, rather loudly, he was so out of it.

Maybe...maybe it was just Gajeel. Haven was too drowsy to place it, but she definitely knew it. It was extremely familiar and had to either be one of the powerful adults down at the hall or her parents or…

And Ravan was up. She heard the sharp intake of breath as he too sensed the presence. He didn't even sit up. Just tumbled off the couch before rushing across the living room floor. It would have looked cool, the way he was stealthily walking around in the dark, had he not tripped over Locke's big head.

"Wha-"

"Shhh." Haven sat up and glared over at Locke as Ravan only moved to toss a hand over his mouth. Softly, she whispered, "Someone's out there."

Locke shoved Ravan off, that was the first order of business, before rubbing at his eyes. After all that, he could finally sense it.

Haven was right. There was a massive amount of magic _right outside the front door_.

"I'll take care of it," Ravan whispered as, after untangling himself from Locke, he started to head across the floor once more, rolling around at certain points, Haven was sure, in an attempt to look like a ninja or something equally as stupid.

When he got to the front door, he sprang up before summoning the biggest blade he had in his reequip space. It was a massive sword, encrusted with a few jewels on the hilt, that Erza had gifted him once for some reason or another. The blade was rather heavy, as he was reminded when he caught it from the air, but that was just fine. He would wield it just as well as (in his mind) he did everything else.

Ravan took a breath before moving to unlock the front door with his other hand and throw it open just as quickly. He could see a man out there, with his back to the door, seemingly heading back down the porch steps. Not that Ravan was gonna let him get away with something like that.

No way, no how.

"Hey!" He held the sword out, as if challenging the man. "What are you doing on our porch? You coward! Don't you run away from me!"

"Ravan." Locke was scrambling to get up as well. "Don't antagonize him! You have to- Dang it, Haven! I said to stop that!"

She'd gotten to her feet as well and, with a rather wonky path to the open door within her range, shot off another bolt of lightning, narrowly missing Ravan as she did so (though, honestly, even in the threat of danger, if she had hit the other boy, she wouldn't have been _too_ remorseful).

"You're gonna have to do better than that, brats, if you're going to take out an enemy. This is the exact reason none of you are ready for guild marks."

The other two, Kai and Navi, were up then and, rather confused, as all the children knew exactly who the voice of that was.

"Master," Ravan breathed as the man turned around, there on the porch, just to glare at them, scarred eye glinting. "I didn't..."

"What are you doing here, Laxus?" Haven, unlike the others, got out of her shock quickly, and came to stomp over to the front door. Locke, honestly, was just kinda glad that someone decided to use it that night instead of the back one. "Did you follow me?"

"Better question, brat," he growled as the two came to glare at one another, Locke moving to, once more, turn on the lights. "What are you doing here? Huh? I thought you were supposed to be at Navi's?"

"I… I am with Navi!" Haven gestured over to where the younger girl was still curled up on that chair. She even waved docilely and called out a weak hello to her master. "So there."

"Haven-"

"What difference does it make?" Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, "So I went to stay over at Locke's instead of Navi's. And? Is that really that big of a deal?"

"When there's, apparently, no adults here? Yeah, Haven, it is."

"I can do whatever I want."

"Look, you little-"

Ravan's snickering stopped Laxus from yelling at his daughter. The boy was, of course, pointing at Haven in a mocking manner.

"You have to ask your daddy before you go places?" he sneered. "That's so cute, Haven."

"Shut up."

"You're such a baby. You-"

"What are you talking about?" Laxus frowned over at the boy, immediately ceasing the jeering. "The only reason I'm here is because of you."

"W-What?" Haven relaxed some. "Then I'm not in trouble?"

"Oh, you're in trouble," Laxus grumbled. Well, sorta. He'd probably just take her home, yell some, and then lament to Mirajane about how hard it is to get Haven to behave correctly. "But I thought that you were really at Navi's before Erza showed up looking for Kai. Super late too, which I found rude, but something's come up. Something with Jellal or-"

"What?" Ravan was staring up at the Master then. "What happened?"

"Don't know, don't care." And he truly didn't. "But I told her Kai never showed up and she was worried and I said I'd go lookin' for the both of you and tracking the scents led me here. Along with Haven's very in trouble scent-"

"Who cares where I went?" Haven glared at her father. "I-"

"We have to hurry!" Suddenly, Kai was popping up from under a pile of blankets (that had been his fort; as well as a good place to hide when they didn't know who was at the door) and rushing to find where he'd kicked off his shoes. "We gotta go catch Erza and then go see-"

"She already left," Laxus told the brothers.

"W-What?" Kai was disappointed, but Ravan was annoyed.

"Why would she do that?" Ravan asked. "Without us? She-"

"If you idiots had been where you were supposed to be, it wouldn't have been a problem," Laxus grumbled as, with a glare at both Navi and Locke to let them know that, fine, they hadn't done anything to piss Laxus off, that was true enough, but he still wasn't happy with them. Just because. "Now come on. Both of you. Ravan, Kai. I told Erza that you could stay with me while she's gone."

"What?" Haven growled. "How could you do that?"

"Very easily," Laxus told her as he headed right for the door. "You weren't there either to say no, so-"

"That's not fair, Laxus!"

"I think it's the definition of fair," he told her simply. "If you idiots hadn't opened the door, anyways, I was leaving."

"What?" Haven glared at Ravan for that one as Laxus only nodded his head.

"Yeah. I could sense all of you in there and thought, you know what, it wasn't worth it. I'd ruin your lives tomorrow. But then Lancelot over here tried to attack me with his sword-"

"Actually," Kai offered as he hurried along to follow Master Laxus, knowing if he was going home with the man, yeah, he'd miss out on Jellal, but he still get tons of Marin time. "When we play swords-"

"You don't play swords," Haven grumbled as she, reluctantly, followed along.

"-Ravan likes to be King Arthur." Kai even bounced. "So-"

"Shut up, dummy," Ravan growled. "Seriously. This is why I don't take you to do things with me."

"What did I do?" Kai grumbled as Master Laxus only patted him on the head. As much as Laxus hated Kai, he was, for the most part, pretty harmless. And the only person out of Marin's very tiny sample of associates that didn't completely take advantage of her weak mentality.

"Wait, Master!" Navi was coming with them, it seemed. "Can I go with you too? I… Please?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Laxus glanced back at Locke. "You comin' kid? Or you gonna ride it out here?"

"I have to stay," he told Laxus as the other children, outside the house now, took to arguing. Err, well, Haven and Ravan did. "I told my dad that I would."

Snorting, Laxus only said, "Well, g'night, anyways." Then, as he headed out the door as well, he was calling out to his daughter. "And, hey, Haven, how did you not know it was me? Outside? Huh? You should have-"

"I could sense your magic," she defended. "I just didn't know it was yours."

"How could you not?" the slayer raved.

"How could I? It's just the same as everyone else's."

"Is not! I'm way more powerful than any of those other turds you know. I-"

"It could have Gajeel coming home or Erza lurking around or Pantherlily-"

"I know I'm fuckin' stronger than that damn cat."

"No cursing."

"Don't you sass me, you little-"

And Locke just shut the door behind them, having no desire to hear any more of their complaints. Didn't want to find out just how Erza had been contact by Jellal (lacrima; he was only a few towns over and, of course, she was ready to leave that minute to see him). Had no desire to see just what punishment got doled out to Haven (none; what else was new). And definitely didn't care to be around when Haven and Ravan would get in a big fight the next morning over something trivial like the last slice of bacon and both end up with black eyes from the brawl over it (while Kai would craftily take the last slice and run off with Marin).

No, Locke had his own demons, at the moment, to fight. Ones that, for once, had nothing to do with the Dreyar girls. It was officially three in the morning and, with only about three or four more hours until sunrise, give or take, he was going to finish spending his last night home alone actually alone.

Considering all he put up with at that point, serial killers with a hankerin' for some flesh didn't sound all that bad…

Too tired to head to his bed, he went to lay down on the couch, where Ravan had been, only to be dismayed to find the other boy drooled on the pillow. Considering it was Gajeel's, Locke went ahead and chalked it up to karma before shoving it off the couch and reaching out to grab the one Haven had.

There. Better. All he had to do then was stay in the house for a few more hours, until dawn, and then he'd be, like, mature or something. Or a man. Or have Gajeel's respect. Err…

Why was he doing all of this again?

Huh. Some stupid reason, he was sure, but he couldn't recall it at the moment.

He'd already turned out the light and, with the moonlight drifting in through the windows, things weren't so bad. Not really. Empty, really, without his friends around, but not scary. Or anything. It wasn't, like, completely dark. Which was cool. Great.

Except for the shadows that it cast. And the fact that the water heater down the hall was making funny noises.

But no, seriously, Locke was fine. He totally was.

Heh.

Hunkering down under a blanket, he must have stayed awake so long that his body gave out or something, because the next time he awoke, it was to someone shoving his head.

"The hell did you do to the living room, boy?"

"Huh?" Blinking his eyes open, Locke found himself in the presence of his very annoyed father. In the kitchen, he could hear Pantherlily complaining something about how they were out of kiwis or something and that someone should have bought him some, if they'd eaten the last one.

It was only courteous, after all.

"What," Gajeel went on, "did you do to the living room? Why'd you get all the blankets and sheets and pillows and bring them in here? I mean, what is this?"

Locke, still rather dazed, only blinked. "I don't...uh..."

"Well, anyways," Gajeel grumbled as he stomped off, further into the house. "Your mother's up at the guildhall. Got back from that stupid job finally. Train's are workin' again, I guess." Then, glancing over his shoulder, Gajeel threatened, "Don't tell her that you stayed here alone. You hear me? I don't wanna have to deal with all that."

"I won't," Locke mumbled as he just sat there. "I just… Now that I did though, you can tell her that I can from now on, right? You could mention that you think I'm old enough now, so-"

And the bathroom door shut, signaling that Gajeel was done with the conversation.

Sigh.

Locke spent the next few days dividing his time between hearing Ravan complain about Erza being gone and Haven complain about Ravan not being gone. That last day, Navi kinda offered Haven to stay with her for the rest of the duration of Ravan being at her home, but Haven turned her down because, as sucky as Ravan was, Navi's two crying twin baby brothers would have been worse.

Which meant that Locke had to make the offer for her to stay with him because it was either that or him and her teamed up and killed Ravan. Which, by the way, Locke wasn't wholly against, because given all the crap Ravan gave him about not being able to stay home alone, and there he was, being bossed around by Erza who, for the record, wasn't his mother. Or anything to him. Not even his guardian!

So who was really the big baby? Huh?

"Still you," Haven told him as they sat around in his room one day, her diligently looking through one of his mother's magical books, hoping to find something or other. Locke was supposed to be helping and even had another book to flip through, but he was mostly just lying up on his bed, complaining about Ravan.

"I am not."

"Are too."

"I am not!" He glared over at her. "You're the one that's such a baby you can't even get Ravan out of your own house and you had to come here."

"Coming from the baby that's whining over there about how annoying Ravan is-"

"You do that too!"

"Do not." Shaking her head from where she was seated on the floor in front of his bed, she said simply, "When I think he's annoying, I beat him up. Because that's how you handle those sorts of things."

He wanted to explain to her that no, you didn't, and that if her father wasn't the guild leader, she'd probably have gotten herself into some major trouble with that mentality, but what would be the point? When he was constantly trying to get that through her thick skull with very little success?

"And are you even looking?" She glanced up at him on the bed. "You're supposed to be searching for the spell. Why aren't you looking for the spell?"

"I can't find whatever it is that you wanted. I-"

"You said you would help, Locke."

"No, I didn't! You just came in here with books and threw one at me and said that I had to look for your stupid made up spell that, honestly, Haven, I don't think is even real."

"It is real. I saw someone do it before and I want to learn how. So get back to looking."

"You know, I didn't have to let you stay the night."

"Yeah," Haven grumbled as she went back to her own book. "I know."

They probably would have gotten back to arguing over the spell (because Locke still wasn't planning on looking for it) had his bedroom door not opened about then and his mother came in. Locke was afraid that Levy had more books for Haven, but that luckily wasn't the case. Instead she asked if she could speak with him alone, which made Haven snicker under her breath because she thought he was going to get in trouble for something (heck, he did too), but when they were in the living room, he found that wasn't the case.

Haven, however, clearly still thought it was, as when he returned some time later, she was all ready to begin mocking him.

"What'd you do?" she sneered. "Huh? Locke? Are you grounded? You're such a-"

"I'm not grounded." And he kicked the stray soccer ball he had by his doorway weakly at her head, but Haven somehow managed to dodge it. Just as she was ready to shoot lightning at him (or something to that effect; for once, he deserved it), he rubbed his knuckles against his chest before saying, "I get to stay home all by myself now."

Haven gave him a rather bored look. "Haven't you always been able to?"

"No, I mean, like overnight. Like the other night. I get to do that from now on. I don't have to stay at your house anymore when both my parents are gone." He went to fall back into his bed as Haven only glared back at him.

"Why?" she asked, more annoyed as he didn't even move to pick up the book and get to looking through it once more. "Locke?"

"I dunno." He even shrugged. "I think that my dad told my mom about how mature I am."

"You're not mature." Giving up on him being any help (he rarely was; in her mind at least), she went back to the one she held. "At all. You're a big baby."

"Coming from the person that still would have to go stay with, like, one of your aunts or uncles-"

"At least I have people enough to let me stay with them. Unlike you. Loser."

" _You_ let me stay with you," he pointed out. Then he laughed, just a bit, to himself. "Or you did. Before. Now that I can stay home all by myself, I don't need to spend the night at your house anymore."

"Good. I hate when you do anyways."

"Good."

"Great."

"Perfect."

Silence. Then, softly, he added, "But I still will if I wanna."

"Maybe I don't want you to."

"Maybe," he agreed. Then, grinning, he said, "That's one step closer to them saying I can take overnight jobs, you know. And farther away jobs. Pretty soon, I won't even have to stay at home! I'll be out taking jobs all the time and-"

"Shut up, Locke. Idiot."

"You could just be happy once in awhile, you know. For someone other than yourself. It wouldn't, like, kill you. And besides, you already do what you want now with literally no punishment. Like ever. So who cares if I win just this once?"

Haven only flipped the page in the old, worn magical text she was looking over before grumbling out, "I guess your dad doesn't hate you so much after all, if he did this for you."

"Yeah, he- Hey, wait." Locke sat up and glared over the side of the bed at her. "My dad doesn't hate me."

"Alright," Haven sang. "He doesn't."

"He doesn't," Locke kept insisting. "So you shouldn't say that."

"Whatever. He doesn't."

"I'm telling you that he-"

"Alright."

When he sat back on the bed, glaring then up at the ceiling, Haven allowed herself to smile, just a bit.

She'd let him have the fact he could stay home alone all night. Fine. But that didn't mean she wouldn't screw with him in other ways to make up for it.

"Oh, and one more thing."

"What?" Haven didn't even glance up at him. "Locke?"

"You kinda sorta have to go soon. Because my mom's leaving and my dad's already left on his job, which is why, you know, she told me that I can stay home alone, but there are kinda rules to it and I kinda don't want to break them, like, the first time that she's letting me do it. So-"

"What's the rule?"

"You can't...be here. Overnight. Or during the day. Because...you're destructive and just an overall not a good person to be around, my mom says, because you're not nice and-"

"I'm not destructive!"

"Haven, you're completely destructive."

Scoffing, she said, "This isn't fair. I'm gonna have to go back home now, you know. And be around Ravan. You're going to make me go back home and have to be in the same house as him?"

"Maybe Erza came back or some-"

"You're such a baby, Locke." And Haven jumped up then, more mad over being called destructive than anything else. "That you follow every single rule."

"She said you could take the books though," he was quick to add. "And you don't have to leave yet, you know. She won't leave until- Hey!"

Haven had thrown the book at his head which, he would have loved to point out, was kinda destructive, but he only let her go because he could hardly contain it anymore. The second he knew she was out of the house, he started laughing rather hard, not even the least bit mad that she'd nearly conked him in the head with that book.

His mother, after all, had never said anything about Haven and her destructive tendencies (at that moment at least; she'd more than once complained, as most everyone had, about the girl and her behavior). Rather, Levy had just told him that she wouldn't feel comfortable with him having any of his friends over when neither she nor Gajeel would be around at all. Not Haven specific in the slightest.

Until he told her it was, which he knew would tick her off.

Because his father didn't hate him. And if Haven thought that she was going to win one by making him think that, then she was just an idiot and definitely needed to be knocked down a peg.

...You know, until night fell and he was all alone and, wow, it was really unfair to leave Haven stuck up again both Ravan and Kai and the Master wouldn't care much, would he, if Locke just dropped in? And stayed the night?

Not that he was afraid or anything. At all. Of the dark. Or serial killers that only existed in his mind. Because he wasn't. He just...was a good friend.

Yeah. Definitely. He'd stay home alone the next night. Or something. Maybe. Eventually.

Besides, he couldn't spend the walk over to the Dreyar house thinking about that. Rather, he had to figure out a way to get Haven to let him stay without full on begging.

Sigh. He knew calling her destructive would only backfire. After all, most his attempts to knock her down that peg did. Even though he was typically just telling her the truth.

Especially when he was telling her the truth.

* * *

 **This got way longer and more in-depth than originally planned. When I first started this fic, a few months ago, it was supposed to be about Locke and Gajeel going through something entirely different, yet still rather important to their relationship, but Locke was aged up to thirteen in that scenario, and I felt like I hadn't really written enough about the kids where they are right now.**

 **So I rewrote some stuff in the first page or so and tried to think of what could possibly be a big deal to an eleven year old. Staying home alone seemed about right. Growing up with quite a few siblings, I kinda rarely got to do such a thing and loved every single time I did, but I figured as an only child, Locke would find it a little daunting (plus he's written to be the worrying type). Then I debated whether or not this would really be an issue, as children in the Fairy Tail realm seem to just do whatever the heck they want anyways, but I figured Levy would probably be a tad over-bearing in some ways (and I really didn't want to have to think up a new topic), so this was born.**

 **This maxed out at far more words than my usual one-shots would, but I feel like it's been so long since I've done a Remember Me one-shot (I think December), that length would be appreciated. I've been asked a few times to expand on Lisanna and Bickslow in this universe, so that might be next for Remember Me, but don't hold your breath.**

 **And, of course, Wo is de kse-girl is the one who drew that very nice picture of Locke up there. She also has a story called** **The untold stories of the fairies if you wanna check it out.**


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